Andreu Genestra is one of the visible faces of contemporary Mallorcan cuisine, a chef recognized for a decade with a Michelin star (and currently a second green star), who this year transferred his proposal to a spectacular hotel 20 minutes from Palma.
In the heart of the city, however, the chef has another corner, more everyday, to put it in some way, but equally interesting; the perfect option for those who want to look into its gastronomic universe for the first time or for those who are visiting the city and have no interest in moving around.
Aromata has been defined as the informal version of Genestra’s cuisine, but the historical space and the culinary offer make that adjective surely fall short. It is a less extensive proposal, without a doubt, with a more adjusted price; a version that is offered in an environment more typical of a bistro than one of the features that define haute cuisine proposals, but accompanied by an impeccable dining room team, capable of handling itself with ease in that atmosphere without losing an iota of professionalism.
The place, the courtyard of a 17th century mansion presided over by a large staircase, has an undeniable charm, one of those corners that can be discovered here and there in Palma and that preserve the unique character of the city. It is here where Genestra and her team receive dozens of customers, both locals and visitors, attracted daily by an offer that at lunchtime is presented through a very reasonable price menu and that, at night and on weekends, It extends into a slightly higher price proposal, although equally contained.
The kitchen, headed by Gabriel Ferrio, who arrives in Mallorca after having worked in kitchens such as Casa Solla, Árbore da Veira or El Bohío, is capable of capturing the gastronomic soul of Genestra and transferring it to another format, adding nuances and proposing it to a different audience.
The menu starts with a series of snacks in which traditional flavors are reformulated in a small format and in a gastronomic key: spring onion and romesco, oyster with a seaweed pilpil, beetroot and puff pastry. Mackerel, in a green gazpacho with apple, followed by a refreshing appetizer. White asparagus (at the end of the season, when we visited the restaurant) with egg yolk and truffle, topped with grated cheese at the moment, referring in some way to a vegetable-based carbonara that ends with the nuances of some sprouts that refresh the set.
The prawn with foie refers, perhaps it is the dish, with the black pork that will arrive a little later, to the cuisine that Genestra proposes in its main restaurant, reformulating products and flavors of classic haute cuisine from its particular perspective.
Tomatoes with carrot and pistachio marinade, an essentially vegetable dish, in which once again the natural acidities predominate, cleansing the palate after the fat power of the foie, with the only accompaniment, saline and iodized, of some cubes of cured tuna.
Grilled sea bass, gazpachuelo and tumbet. Once again, the flavors that define the gastronomic memory of the island, formulated in the key of a contemporary restaurant, as is the case, right after, with the black pork suckling pig with ensaimada, ham demiglace and citrus sauce, a delicious dish that closes the salty section of the menu with the local product as the protagonist.
Selection of four cheeses from the island. Pineapple cottage cheese and rum raisin ice cream; tiramisu and ensaimada ice cream. Gourmet desserts, with a final nod to the local pantry and a careful presentation, perfect to end a well-measured tour, capable of capturing the Mallorcan gastronomic imagination and that of the chef without falling into easy resources, preserving its hallmarks despite the price constraints.
Aromata is a good option for discovering contemporary Mallorcan cuisine and the culinary universe of Andreu Genestra for the first time, but it is also an excellent option for those who visit the capital of the island and are looking for a proposal with interesting cuisine and good value for money.
Culinarily speaking, Mallorca is going through a sweet moment, and this is reflected, as is logical, in the wide list of top cooks who are turning the island into an essential gastronomic destination, but also in restaurants like Aromata, perhaps with Less pretentious, but capable of maintaining a high level of proposal, service and atmosphere from that second line, much less media-focused although capable of hosting, on occasions, surprises.
Aromata is a proposal with undoubted local roots, a place that offers an attractive gastronomic tour at very measured prices and that is capable of accompanying it with a wide and very well selected wine cellar, in charge of sommelier Giorgia Scaramella, recently incorporated into the project; a space that is abstracted from the tourist bustle of the center to become a gateway to a way of understanding gastronomy; a place to return to frequently to explore the local pantry and the change of seasons and, in short, one of those restaurants that turn the mid-price range into a space where, fortunately, surprises and places can be found in which to repeat.